President Names 5 New Vice Ministers

Taps ex-culture minister Yu as his special adviser in charge of culture

President Lee Myung-bak carried out a reshuffle that affected five vice ministerial posts, including Lee Sang-gil, assistant minister of food industry policy at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFF), who was promoted to the first vice minister of MIFAFF.
President Lee also named former minister of culture, sports and tourism Yu In-chon as his special adviser in charge of culture, who is charged with such responsibilities as preparing for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea. Yu was again tapped as the newly installed presidential special adviser six months after he resigned from the minister of culture, sports and tourism.
Yoon Jong-soo, assistant minister of environment policy at the Ministry of Environment (MOE), was promoted to vice minister of the MOE, while Joo Young-sup, assistant minister of tax at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF), was named commissioner of the Korea Customs Service. Lee Ki-hwan, vice administrator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), was promoted to NEMA administrator, while Woo Ki-jong, secretary-general of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, was tapped as administrator of Statistics Korea. Senior presidential spokesman Kim Do-woo said most of the newly appointed vice ministers were promoted from each ministry at the recommendation of the respective ministers, and the new appointees have earned confidence and recognition from each ministry.
The new vice ministers were senior officials well versed in each ministry, not from the political circles, a step President Lee took to manage state affairs in a stable fashion during remaining one and half years of his term, political analysts said.
The government also appointed Chung Jae-hoon, assistant minister of planning and coordination at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) to become assistant minister of energy & resources, replacing Kim Jung-gwan, who was promoted to the 2nd MKE vice minister. MKE spokesman Jung Man-gi was named as assistant minister of planning and coordination, while Han Jin-hyun, director-general of trade policy, was promoted to assistant minister of trade & investment. nw

Yu In-chon, presidential special adviser in charge of culture

(from left) Woo Ki-jong, new administrator of Statistics Korea,; Yoon Jong-soo, new vice minister of environment,; and Joo Young-sup, new commissioner of Korea Customs Service.